System and method for reporting website activity based on inferred attribution methodology

• US 8,452,865 B1
• Filed: 03/06/2008
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Heller, Jonathan Marc, Kim, James Christopher, Merriman, Dwight Allen, Erlichson, Andrew Joel, Lee, Benjamin Chien-wen
• Primary Examiner(s): Whipple, Brian P
• Assistant Examiner(s): BELCHER, HERMAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/073,503
• Time in Patent Office: 1,909 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level

Abstract

A method and system for reporting website activity. According to an example embodiment, the system receives event-level data representing visitor activity on a client website, infers attribution of one or more metrics to at least one navigation entity based on the visitor activity, and provides reports based on the inferred attribution.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer, information indicative of a transition through pages of a web site;

wherein the pages of the web site are associated with navigation entities, wherein a navigation entity specifies a category to which a page of the web site is assigned;

attributing, by the computer based on the information received, credit to one or more metrics associated with navigation entities for the pages accessed during the transition; and

generating, by the computer, a report that comprises (i) a value for at least one of the one or more metrics, wherein the value is based on an amount of credit attributed to the at least one of the one or more metrics, and (ii) information that is at least partly based on an identity of a navigation entity associated with the at least one of the one or more metrics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information received comprises a request for a non-navigation entity placed on a page of the web site.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the non-navigation entity is a 1×

1 pixel image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the report further comprises a paired-page transition table.

5. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

one or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving information indicative of a transition through pages of a web site;

wherein the pages of the web site are associated with navigation entities, wherein a navigation entity specifies a category to which a page of the web site is assigned;

attributing, based on the information received, credit to one or more metrics associated with navigation entities for the pages accessed during the transition; and

generating a report that comprises (i) a value for at least one of the one or more metrics, wherein the value is based on an amount of credit attributed to the at least one of the one or more metrics, and (ii) information that is at least partly based on an identity of a navigation entity associated with the at least one of the one or more metrics.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the information received comprises a request for a non-navigation entity placed on a page of the web site.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the non-navigation entity is a 1×

1 pixel image.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the report further comprises a paired-page transition table.

9. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving information indicative of a transition through pages of a web site;

wherein the pages of the web site are associated with navigation entities, wherein a navigation entity specifies a category to which a page of the web site is assigned;

attributing, based on the information received, credit to one or more metrics associated with navigation entities for the pages accessed during the transition; and

generating a report that comprises (i) a value for at least one of the one or more metrics, wherein the value is based on an amount of credit attributed to the at least one of the one or more metrics, and (ii) information that is at least partly based on an identity of a navigation entity associated with the at least one of the one or more metrics.

10. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the information received comprises a request for a non-navigation entity placed on a page of the web site.

11. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 10, wherein the non-navigation entity is a 1×

1 pixel image.

12. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein the report further comprises a paired-page transition table.